Coalition for the Sahel: French wager to end terrorism in Africa

Ahmed Adel

France is seeking to end the activity of terrorist organizations in Africa’s Sahel and Sahara region by strengthening the security capabilities of the region’s armies and cooperating with other international powers present in the region in order to restore security to the countries that have been afflicted by violence and conflict recently due to an increase in terrorist operations as a result of an influx of a large number of terrorists.

Coalition for the Sahel

France announced the launch of the Coalition for the Sahel, which is the largest international coalition seeking to confront the threat of terrorism in this region. Its first ministerial meeting on Friday, June 12 included representatives of 60 countries and international organizations.

Coalition principles

The ministerial meeting was chaired by the European Union and the G5 Sahel states, in addition to France, as French President Emmanuel Macron had first announced the idea of a coalition during the Pau Summit with G5 Sahel leaders in January.

The new coalition is based upon four basic principles: combating armed terrorist groups, strengthening the military capabilities of the armies of countries in the region, supporting the return of the region’s state governments and administrations, and supporting development.

Before Nouakchott summit

In the same context, French Defense Minister Florence Parly tweeted on June 12 that the launch of the Coalition for the Sahel “comes a few weeks before the Nouakchott summit, which will be attended by President Emmanuel Macron,” adding that “today’s meeting made it possible to present the first outcome since the Pau Summit held in January 2020.”

Parly added that the plan agreed upon by the G5 Sahel leaders and France has begun to “bear fruit”, noting that strikes have been directed against terrorist in the tri-national border area of ​​Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso and the local armies have begun to take control.

French wager

France is waging on the new coalition to “strengthen political cooperation” to ensure the success of military operations on the ground against armed Islamist groups, and Parly noted that results have been achieved.

The new coalition includes countries from West Africa and the European Union that were not involved in the G5 Sahel Alliance, the largest funder of the war on terrorism in the Sahel region.

The first meeting discussed the work achieved in the region with regard to military and development, in addition to the violations that the armies of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have been accused of committing against civilians, especially the Malian army.

Dozens of Arab and foreign countries joined Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso participated in the meeting through video conference, and it was agreed to hold an international summit next year in one of the Sahel countries, with the participation of the leaders of the coalition countries. A mini-meeting is also to be held in July in preparation for another ministerial meeting after the summer.

The ministerial meeting came just days before the G5 Sahel summit that will be hosted in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott at the end of June, which is expected to be attended by Macron.

French and Sahel forces have made some gains recently, including the killing of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) leader Abdelmalik Droukdel; however, terrorists have continued their recent attacks against civilians and military personnel, and they have advanced farther south to coastal states such as Ivory Coast.